Wangari Maathai

Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011): Nobel Peace Laureate; environmentalist; scientist; parliamentarian; founder of the Green Belt Movement; advocate for social justice, human rights, and democracy; elder; and peacemaker.

Brighter Green colleague and advisory board member. She lived and worked in Nairobi, Kenya. Mentor, friend, inspiration. I had the great luck of being with Wangari Maathai (next to her in fact) in Kenya in October 2004 when she learned she’d won the Nobel Peace Prize. Here’s the story I wrote about that singular day for the L.A. Times.

More information and a summary of Wangari’s life and extraordinary vision and achievements I co-drafted here.